


Two Worlds, One Family

by MedieavalBeabe



Category: Disney - Fandom, Tarzan - Fandom
Genre: Genderbend, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedieavalBeabe/pseuds/MedieavalBeabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daughter of Man

Kayode looked around the strange structure that sat stop the enormous tree, overlooking the whole jungle. It was a strange thing, like...well, it was square and wooden and many strange things were littered around the floor. Kayode knew that these must belong to humans. The humans in question were lying peacefully in a shadowy corner of the tree house, their faces obscured by a door that was leaning against the wall, where it had been ripped from the wall some time ago. Unknown to Kayode, had the humans been able to see him, they would have been fascinated and in spite of what Kayode’s own father had always told him about humans, they wouldn’t have done anything to harm him, rather they would have wished to observe and study him in his natural habitat. 

But the humans couldn’t see him.

Kayode took a step further into the room and then realised why. Amid a sweeping of feathers, billowing from a torn cushion, the floor near the humans’ resting spot was covered in blooded claw marks. Leopard claw marks. 

It was Sabor, it had to have been; the same leopard that had only a few days ago killed Kayode’s own baby daughter. His mate Yejide had gone into a deep depression, and whilst Kayode was sad too, he knew that it had cut her deeper than it had him. Because she was already a mother, without a baby. 

Kayode took a step backwards and his knuckles hit something cold and hard on the ground. Glancing down he saw that it was a picture in some kind of hard casing. The photograph showed three humans; a man with a moustache and a handsome face, a beautiful young woman with sharp eyes and a smaller human in her arms. 

Kayode frowned down at the picture and then a sudden wailing sound caused him to start. At first the thought it was Sabor and then he pulled himself together. The sound was coming from on top of some strange pink shape in the other corner of the room. Slowly, Kayode approached, wondering if it was some animal in pain. Whatever it was, it was covered by some large pink sheet of something. Warily, Kayode pulled it back...and frowned. 

Inside the strange pink thing...was an even stranger pink thing. It looked like a baby ape, only it was hairless, like it had been skinned. It was also dressed in some white thing around it’s lower end. Presently, it stopped crying and looked up at Kayode, just as fascinated by him as he was by it. Kayode sniffed it. The thing sneezed and he jumped backwards. The little thing made a gurgling sound like laughter and help up its arms. Kayode picked it up, gingerly, by the leg. The little thing made that gurgling sound again, and then, as Kayode held it up, it touched his face with the same curiosity as a baby ape. Whatever it was, he couldn’t deny that it was cute and holding it like he had his own daughter made him feel paternal all over again. 

Snuggling against him, the baby girl yawned and closed her eyes. Kayode smiled. Maybe another baby could make Yejide happy again, if she just held her. Presently, however, he became aware that they weren’t alone. With an uneasy feeling, he looked upwards.

Sabor glowered down at him, hungrily. 

Kayode ran for it, swinging about all over the room to evade Sabor. They both ended up crashing out of the window and landing on top of an outdoor canopy made from an old sail. Sabor’s next slashed just missed him and ripped the canopy open. Kayode fell out and made to run for it. Sabor pounced at him. Kayode did his best to fight her off but it wasn’t easy one handed. Whether Sabor was after him or the baby was answered a few seconds later as their thrashing knocked the girl out of his hand and she bounced, not in the least bit scared, over the edge and onto a net that ran below the treehouse. Kayode gasped and Sabor started after her, knocking Kayode away. Kayode watched through a gap as the baby rolled, giggling, along the net, and Sabor stalked after her. As the baby rolled to a halt, Kayode managed to pull her up through the gap just as Sabor pounced at her. Angrily, Sabor tore through the floorboards. Seeing his chance, Kayode jumped into a boat that the humans had used for a lift between tree and ground. The pressure caused the boat to lower towards the ground rapidly as Sabor found the other end of the rope tied around her hind leg. Reaching the bottom, Kayode looked up to see her tangled in the rope like a fly in a spider’s web. With a defiant growl in her direction, he ran through the forest, back to the family.

“Kayode?” Yejide was looking all around her as she led the family onwards in her husband’s place. They had been moving on from their last spot, one that Sabor had found, when she had somehow lost track of him. She did hope that nothing bad had happened to him. 

“Look, look-it!” shrieked a young gorilla named Tope suddenly, pointing from his father’s back.

The other gorillas turned in relief to see Kayode approaching them. “Kayode!” the all exclaimed, making their way up to him. 

“I’m fine,” Kayode grinned.

“We thought you were leading,” Tope’s father said.

“Yes, well, I’m afraid I got a little sidetracked.” Kayode showed them the baby. The other gorillas frowned at it. 

“Oh,” said one, “isn’t that..?”

“Well, it, um,” said another, awkwardly, “it certainly...”

But it was young Tope who voiced what they all were thinking. “It’s pretty funny looking, that’s what it is.”

“Temitope!” his father reprimanded him.

“Well it is!” Tope peered at the baby. “I mean what the heck is it, anyway?”

Kayode laughed at the young ape and then handed the baby to him. “She’s a baby, like you, only human.”

“Well-!” Tope’s cry of protest was cut short as the baby began to groom his large tuft of hair with her chubby hands. He chuckled. “So, where’s her mama and papa?”

“Well,” Kayode said, very honestly, “I’m going to be her father from now on.”

Yejide finally approached the group. “You know,” chuckled Tope, “she’s not that bad once you get to know her.” 

Yejide stared at the little hairless thing. Tope quickly took this as a sign to hand the girl back to Kayode and the other gorillas quickly retreated. They could see a clash about to occur.

“Kayode, did you bring this thing here hoping it could replace the one we lost?” asked Yejide, in a horrified whisper.

“No. But her parents are dead. Sabor killed them both. I thought...you need something to mother.”

“Be a mother to that thing?”

“Just hold her, and you’ll feel like I do.”

Yejide recoiled in shock. “I don’t want it.”

“Yejide-”

“I said NO!”

Her growl caused the baby to start crying again. The other gorillas jumped and Yejide even looked a bit surprised herself. “Why is it doing that?”

Kayode rocked the baby, comforting her. “Your shouting scared her.”

“Kayode, you can do what you want with that thing. Bring it into the family if you think it’ll make you feel any better; but it can never be the daughter we lost. Not to me, anyway.”

She stalked off. Kayode sighed and then called to the rest of the family. “We’ll make camp here tonight.”

The gorillas nodded in agreement and began to arrange nests for themselves, stealing fascinated glances at Kayode’s sudden love for the strange little thing. Only Tope eventually went up to him and asked “So, whatcha gonna call her?”

Kayode thought for a second. “Tarzana.”

“Tarzana?” Tope tried it out. “Ok.”

“Tope, bed!” his father called him.

“Aw, Pa!” sighed Tope but he went anyway. Kayode observed the baby all night. She woke up crying several times but he managed to rock her back to sleep. She was a strange being. 

Over the next few years he observed her behaviour. Humans didn’t act much like gorillas, he knew; although Tarzana kept trying to copy the other gorillas in behaviour and eating habits and eventually Kayode realised that it was probably best to just let her think she was one of them for a while. He had also hoped that Yejide might have a change of heart and accept Tarzana, if not as her biological daughter, then as her adopted child, but Yejide refused outright to have anything to do with the girl. It drove something of a wedge between them that Kayode hoped someday they could mend. Tarzana learned early on that Yejide didn’t like her, but she could never fathom why. Tope’s advice was for her to just keep away from her, that way, he said, she could always be on Yejide’s good side.

It didn’t always work, however. 

One day, when Tarzana was about five in human years, she and Tope were playing together when Flint and Mungo invited Tope along to play near the watering hole. 

“How about me?” asked Tarzana, eagerly. 

Flint and Mungo exchanged glances. “Well, gee, it’s really more sort of a guys game...”

Tope crawled up to them. “Come on, guys, let her join in. She’s not that much of a pest, really.”

Mungo shook his head. “Uh-uh!”

“Oh, come on, guys, what if she proved she was one of us?”

“How?”

Tope thought for a minute. “Um...if she could go get an elephant hair from down there.” He pointed down where two elephants were slugging it out, rather violently, in the water.

“Oh, yeah!” Flint laughed. “If she achieved that, she could come play with us all the time!”

Tope grinned. “Leave it to me.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Tarzana asked Tope as they approached the watering hole, slowly.

“Relax!” Tope drawled. “All ya gotta do is sneak up on that little one while I keep ‘em talkin’. Then, ya just pull out a hair. Nothing to it. She won’t even feel it.”

Or, so Tope thought.

“Hey, you pachyderms!” he drawled, walking up to a group of adult elephants. “Now, I was just talking to my good friend the rhino and he was telling me that youse guys are from the same family. Is that true, or is that guy just crackers, coz, ya know, ya don’t look much alike, no offence...”

Quietly, Tarzana made her away towards the smallest elephant, who was muttering to herself about bacteria and unsanitary water. Here goes nothing, Tarzana thought, and she quickly pulled a hair from the elephant’s tail. The elephant screamed at once and cannoned into her mother. “Help! Piranha!”

“There are no piranhas in Africa, Thema!” her mother sighed, and at that point, Tarzana, who had been knocked into the water at the young elephant’s scream, surfaced with a great gasping breath...which the elephants mistook for a biting motion.

“Piranha!” they all exclaimed, and then they stampeded the shoreline, heading straight for the gorillas. Luckily, all the gorillas managed to get to safety in time. Kayode looked around him. “Where’s Tarzana?”

“Tarzana!” Tope all but dragged her out of the water as she coughed and spluttered. “Tarzana, buddy, speak to me!”

“Get away!” cried Thema, pulling him away with her trunk. “Don’t you know a piranha can rip off your flesh?”

“What? She’s not a piranha, you fool!” Tope pulled free just as Tarzana recovered. “Hey, Tarzana!” He hugged her. “Gee, sorry, all that danger for nothing.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Tarzana grinned, showing him the hair.

“That’s what this is all about?” Thema swished her tail. “You coulda just asked. I got a whole tail of ‘em!” 

The three of them laughed and that was when Kayode ran up and pulled her into his arms. “Tarzana, you’re safe!” Then, he addressed her sternly. “What happened?”

Tarzana took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Papa. I...we were playing and...I sorta scared the elephants. I didn’t mean it.”

“It’s a wonder no one was hurt!” snapped Yejide. 

Tarzana flinched at her tone. “Alright, that’s enough,” said Kayode, sternly.

“Kayode, when are you going to accept that she doesn’t belong in this family?” Yejide argued. “Every time something like this happens, who do we find at the heart of it, her?”

“She’s just a child!”

“But no one else’s child does things like this!”

“Yejide!”

“You know I’m right; why are you still in denial! She’s not one of us and she never will be!”

Tarzana dropped the elephant hair and ran. “Tarzana, hey!” called Tope after her, but she didn’t stop. 

“Happy?” Kayode asked.

Yejide sniffed. “I haven’t been happy since you brought that thing into the family.”

Kayode found her a little while later on the other side of the river, glaring at her own reflection and covered in mud that had splashed over her during a furious rant at herself. “What am I?” she asked, finally.

Kayode looked down at her. “You’re my daughter. Now let’s get that mud off your face.”

Tarzana protested, as children often do when having their face washed by their parent/s. Eventually, she was able to get her words out. “Yejide said I didn’t belong in the family!”

“Never mind what Yejide said.”

“But look at me!” 

Kayode blinked at her. “I am. And let’s see, what do I see? Hm, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two ears...and what else?”

Tarzana grinned and held up her hands. “Two hands?”

“That’s right.” Kayode held up his own hands. They looked the same as hers, and yet different. Tarzana looked at her own hands. “But we’re not exactly the same,” she realised.

“Maybe we don’t look the same,” Kayode replied, wisely, “but we’re not that different.” He put her hand to her chest. “What do you feel?”

“My heartbeat.”

“Now come here.” Kayode held her to his chest. “What do you hear?”

“Your heartbeat.”

“See, they’re the same.” Kayode’s smile faded. “I just wish Yejide could realise that.”

Tarzana smiled up at him. “I’ll make her change her mind, Papa. I’ll be the best ape ever; even if I’m not one.”

So saying, Tarzana began her training. With help from Tope and Thema she learned how to climb trees unaided, how to swing from vines, and how to deal with all the dangers of the jungle. By the time she was grown, Tarzana knew the jungle like the back of her own hand, better even and Kayode was very proud of her. And whilst Yejide still refused to accept her as her own daughter, she allowed Tarzana to blossom into some form of ape/human hybrid and was greatly impressed, not that she would ever admit to it.


	2. These Emotions I Never Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

“Don’t even think about it,” said Kayode, without even turning around.

Tarzana dropped her hands in a mixture of both disappointment and surprise. Swinging around on a vine, she landed in front of Kayode and plucked a mango from the branch above them. “How’d you know it was me?”

“Because I’m your father and I know everything,” Kayode replied, drily, eating his own mango. “Now, where have you been?”

Tarzana laughed. “I thought you knew everything! Oof!”

The last came because Tope suddenly cannoned into her out of nowhere and knocked her off her branch. Tarzana, however, was quick to seized the nearest vine to keep from falling. Sweeping back his hair in a slick movement, Tope turned to Kayode. “Morning, Uncle K! You’re looking well today!”

“Hello, Tope,” replied Kayode, with only a hint of amusement in his voice.

Tarzana sprang up and leapt on Tope. Tope hadn’t been expecting this and was caught completely off guard. The pair rolled off the branch and onto the floor, past a largely unamused Yejide and over and over until they landed in a clearing near to where Thema was fussing over a small bout of eczema, which she claimed that she only got when something bad was about to happen. Thema shook her head at Tarzana’s unladylike form of playing. “Honestly, you two!”

“Aw, lighten up, Thema! Oh!” Pinning Tarzana to the ground, Tope grinned at a couple of good looking female gorillas a little way off. “Hello, Ladies; how you doing?”

The girls giggled and then sniffed in contempt as Tarzana wrestled herself free of Tope’s grip. “Oh, look, it’s the hairless freak,” one said, none too quietly. The other giggled, nastily. Tarzana ignored their jibes, even though they hurt, but Tope was offended for her. He leapt up at once, holding Tarzana off from further wrestling with one foot. “Hey! My buddy Tarzana here can out-ape you dolls any day! Get out of here!”

“How rude!” sniffed the first one, and they both stalked off with their noses in the air. 

“You didn’t have to do that, Tope,” Tarzana said, watching them leave. “You could have pulled there.”

“Pft!” Tope sniffed and then put an arm around her, pulling her into a rib-cracking hug. “Jerks! Who needs ‘em? Anyway, what would you do without me, huh, pal? Oh, I’ll tell ya where she’d be without me,” he added, addressing Thema before Tarzana had a chance to answer. He quickly pinned her again. “Nowhere, that’s where. If I didn’t teach her how to fight-”

“Why do you two always have to play so rough?” sighed Thema. “It’s not good for you, Tarzana; you should be acting like a lady.”

“Lady?” Tarzana wriggled free and then flipped Tope. “Please! Whatever I am, Thema, we all know I’m no lady! Where’s the fun in that?”

As she spoke, Tarzana felt two things. One was a pang of loneliness that she had never even confided to even Kayode that often came along when she questioned what kind of creature she actually was. The second was a sudden feeling of unease that they weren’t alone in this clearing. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Ease up! I give already!” 

Glancing down, Tarzana realised that she had Tope’s right leg hooked over at a painful angle. She quickly released him. “Sorry, Tope.”

“Aw, honestly!” sighed Tope, rubbing his sore muscle. “Just what kind of animal are you anyway, Tarzana?”

“You know,” said Thema, as Tarzana approached a cluster of bushes that had caused the hairs on the back of her neck to prick up, “I’ve been thinking lately that maybe Tarzana could be some subspecies of elephant.”

“What?” exclaimed Tope, shaking his head. “Are you nuts?”

“Nuts! Exactly my point; she likes peanuts, I like peanuts...”

“I don’t believe I’m hearing this,” Tope muttered as Tarzana turned to them. 

Then everything happened phenomenally fast. Sabor leapt out of the bushes with a loud growl. The three friends yelped and Tarzana ducked as Sabor leapt her way. The leopard jumped over her. The growls she omitted didn’t go unheard by the rest of the family, and all apes on the ground scattered. Tarzana leapt up the nearest tree, and Sabor followed...until she found herself ripped from the trunk by Kayode. As head of the family, after all, it was his duty to protect them. Tarzana gasped as Sabor leapt back and pinned him to the ground. The other apes gasped too. Thema, who wasn’t good with violence, covered her eyes with her ears. 

“Kayode!” cried Yejide, who was halfway up a tree; and now she slid down to face Sabor. 

Tarzana watched as her father was knocked down and the leopard turned her attention to Yejide. Snatching up her handmade spear, Tarzana leapt down to the ground too. Hearing her land, Sabor turned to her. She recognised the prey she had been denied all those years ago. Tarzana, however, didn’t recognise the beast that had killed her real parents; of course she had been only a baby at the time, and now she was just eighteen, by human years, so many of her earliest memories were gone. 

She prepared to defend herself as she and Sabor circled one another. The other gorillas above began to cry and howl out encouragement as Sabor suddenly leapt towards her. Tarzana pinned her spear to the ground and leap up out of her reach as the leopard landed...and turned her attention towards Yejide. Yejide, in a panic, made to climb the nearest tree as Sabor leapt at her. Tarzana got there first, swept Yejide off her feet and deposited her in the safety of a high branch. Then, landing, she led the leopard up an empty tree. Sabor slashed after her, claws unsheathed, swiping and lashing at every opportunity. One way or another, it was clear that she wanted Tarzana dead. Higher and higher they moved until Tarzana found herself on a large, crooked branch and looked around. She was alone. 

Then, Sabor leapt down from above. Tarzana brandished her spear and threw the leopard off her. Sabor landed on the ground and growled as she noticed her front haunch was bleeding. The other gorillas shrieked in triumph. Kayode watched in alarm as Tarzana again leapt to the ground and Sabor went for her again. Though Tarzana was afraid, she knew that she had to kill this beast before it killed her or any of the family. She felt the mighty claws rip into her arm before she pushed the beast off her. Sabor struck out again, knocking the tip from her spear and Tarzana watched it fall downwards amid a tangle of knotted vines. Woman and leopard wrestled viciously, until Tarzana threw her off...and then realised that without the tip, her spear was virtually useless. Seizing an overhanging vine, she managed to leap out of the way as Sabor went for her again. Tarzana swung across the tangle that her spear tip had landed in and stopped herself on a nearby tree. Jumping down through its knotted roots, she managed to evade Sabor by hitting her lunging paw with a large rock. Sabor yowled in pain and tried to winch herself free. Tarzana spotted her spear tip and leapt for it. Just as she seized it, Sabor leapt on top of her. Tarzana thrust out with the tip as the vines beneath them gave way and they vanished from sight. 

The gorillas held their breath. Kayode stared at the gap in the vines, willing Tarzana to come leaping out again. Beside him, Yejide sensed his pain and touched his hand. Then, from within the pit, Sabor’s body rose up and the apes all gasped...but something was wrong. Sabor wasn’t moving. Then, Tarzana emerged from the pit and threw aside the dead leopard. 

The apes erupted into cheers and applause. Kayode sighed in relief that she was alright. Looking up, Tarzana felt appreciated for the first time in her life. In victory, she held up her spear tip and the apes continued their celebrations. 

“Tarzana, that was amazing!” exclaimed Thema, seizing her in a hug with her trunk. Then, with a stern tone of authority, she added “But you could have been killed! Don’t scare me like that again!”

Tarzana laughed as the other gorillas gathered around her. “Alright, everybody move aside,” Tope drawled, pushing his was up to her. “Best Friend coming through.” He put an arm around her again. “See, if anyone else messes with us gorillas, oh yeah, my buddy Tarzana here can save the day. Just give her a call, like.”

Tarzana glanced over at Kayode and then ran over to him. “Are you alright?”

Kayode grinned at her. “Few bruises, but nothing I can’t handle.”

Tarzana hugged him and then looked over at Yejide who was standing a little way off. Yejide couldn’t believe it. Tarzana had just saved her life, even though Yejide had never given her any reason to. Perhaps, perhaps she wasn’t so bad after all. Then she realised that Tarzana had come up to her. Yejide looked up into the caring youthful face and then she reached up and took her hand. Tarzana was surprised but pleased. They shared a mutual look of understanding and then Yejide smiled at her, acceptingly. 

Suddenly, a loud bang rippled through the air like thunder. Everyone started and then turned to Thema. Thema looked offended. “Well! I may get a little gassy under pressure but that certainly was not me!”

Kayode, however, knew that sound. He had heard it before. It was the sound of humans. And they were dangerous to gorillas, all but Tarzana. “We must move on,” he ordered. The other gorillas and Thema nodded but Tarzana quickly leapt up the nearest tree to investigate the sound. Kayode left her to it. She would come along, he knew. She had just taken on a fully grown leopard by herself; if she could survive that, then there was no need to worry much about her now. 

Tarzana made her way through the trees, swinging from vines and sliding across branches until she spotted a little way down the source of the commotion. Something was moving rather rapidly through a patch of bamboo. Tarzana, unafraid, made her way downwards and hid in a patch of leave opposite the bamboo. Peering out, she started and ducked down again as something slashed across the bamboo, cutting them completely and then two of the strangest creatures she had ever seen in her life emerged. Of course, unknown to her, they were humans; both women. One was tall, curvaceous and held herself in an upright position. She had dark brown hair, streaks slightly with white, even though she could only have been in her forties at the latest and cruel eyes, although she spoke with a crisp, cut-glass English accent and addressed the other woman patiently. The other woman was small, dumpy and quite a bit older and more ditzy than the first, but with a pleasant demeanour, neat white hair and a friendly smile. Both wore yellow travelling clothes and the older woman also wore a small pith helmet to keep the sun out of her eyes. 

“Lady Clarice,” she said, in an equally clear English accent, “are you sure that those gunshots were necessary? You might have scared the gorillas.”

“Nonsense, Professor” replied Clarice. “Would you have wanted us to be attacked by a leopard or something? This is the jungle, after all, not an English garden.”

“Oh, yes, yes I know that,” began Professor Arabella Q. Porter, taking a step forward.

“Hold on, Professor, don’t move! I thought I saw something!” 

The Professor immediately froze in a comical pose. “Mother? Mother?” 

Tarzana stared as from within the bamboo cluster a handsome young man, perhaps only a few years older than she, stepped up to his mother. Unlike her, his hair was a light brown colour and he had a small, neat moustache that made him look a little older than he actually was. He was also dressed in yellow clothing. “What is it, Mother?” he asked, clasping his sketch pad and pencil close to him. 

“Sh, Jack,” his mother replied, wobbling. “Miss Clarice told me not to move. She saw something.” Then, as Jack moved over to Clarice, she lost balance completely. “Oops,” she muttered, “I moved!”

Tarzana couldn’t fathom why her heart was racing faster at the sight of this new creature as he stepped up to the first. “Miss Clarice, I was wondering-?”

Clarice turned with a vivacious smile. “Yes, Mr Porter?”

“All this noise, is it really-?”

Jack was interrupted again as his mother exclaimed in excitement. “Jack! Jack! Do you realise what you’re standing in? A gorilla nest!”

Looking down at the pile of leaves surrounding his feet, Jack saw that she was right. “Excellent!” exclaimed Clarice. “Our first sighting in days!”

“Look, there are more of them!” Jack pointed. “It’s just like you predicted, Mother, family groups!”

Clarice laughed. “Excuse me, Professor, but these are wild beasts that would tear your head off as soon as look at you!”

“On the contrary, Lady Clarice,” said Jack, boldly, “Mother’s theory is that they’re social creatures-”

He was cut off yet again as Clarice suddenly fired a warning shot at some rustling close by. “Miss Clarice, please,” Jack insisted. “What if it’s a gorilla? You might hit it.”

“It’s no gorilla,” Clarice mused. “But we should press on.”

“Oh, yes, quite,” agreed the Professor. “Now, if we go this way...”

They left as Jack looked around the area once more...and then a baby baboon landed beside him. “Oh, hello,” Jack said to it as it began to nibble a mango. “Was that you making all that noise up there? Just hold that pose a second.” He made a few quick sketches, and then, to his surprise, the baboon snatched his pad and ran off with it. “Hey, come back with that, you little pest!” Jack exclaimed, running after it. The baboon tore the picture of itself from the pad and tossed the pad aside. Jack picked it up and held out his hand. “Now come on, give that back.” The baboon shook its head. Jack was reminded of a time when he had babysat his cousin Charlie back in England. He decided to use a similar trick. “Oh, look, bananas!” he said, pointing. The baboon turned and Jack snatched the picture back. “Thank you very much.”

The baboon immediately started to cry. Jack turned to go...and found himself face to face with a very angry family of baboons. Jack dropped his sketchbook in shock and took a step backwards. “Now, take it easy...I wasn’t trying to bully him or anything...just...”

He promptly tripped over a tree root. Looking up, he saw the baboons swarming angrily towards him. Jack took to his heels and fled. The baboons chased him through the jungle until he reached a sudden chasm in the ground. Taking a chance, Jack flung himself forwards...and felt himself flying. Looking up, he saw, to his great amazement, a young woman, rather scantily clad, swinging from a vine above him and keeping a tight grip on his braces. Tarzana swung them both onto a large tree branch and Jack steadied himself, blinking at her in amazement. “How did you-?”

His question was cut short as the baboons ran towards them. Grabbing his arm, Tarzana slid them both down the dipping tree branches. Jack was terrified; it was like some enormous twisting and turning slide. The baboons followed them along criss-crossed branches and down a hallow log that suddenly decided to give way and snap in the middle, casting them all downwards. Jack yelped as they fell, but Tarzana remained completely calm. Seizing a springy vine, she catapulted them both back up into the safety of another tree as the log they had just been inside came crashing to the ground, along with most of the baboons. One, however, along with the baby, landed on the branch in front of them and chattered, demanding something. To Jack’s alarm, Tarzana chattered back and then, understanding, took the page Jack had stuck in his waistcoat pocket, with the baboon’s drawing on it, and handed it to the baby baboon. Satisfied, the two hopped away. 

Tarzana turned, only to see Jack attempting to escape around the tree. “I’m in a tree with a woman who talks to monkeys!” he babbled to himself as he attempted to shift his body to a tree branch opposite. “Now, Jack, keep it together! There aren’t any half naked women in the jungle; it’s just because of the humidity and the adrenaline! Yes, when the baboons chased me, I did all those things myself. The adrenaline made me see things, the adrenaline is gone and I’m seeing normal again.” Bridging himself between trunk and branch, he took a deep breath. “Now, I have to get down, carefully. So far, so good. One, two, three...” He tried to push himself onto the branch but with a yelp, and unable to get his balance, he ended up a bridge between the two again. He sighed. “It can’t get any worse than this, right?” No sooner were the words out of his mouth, the heavens opened. Jack sighed. “Right.”

He opened his eyes to see Tarzana staring up at him, curiously. In shock, he jumped, backwards and Tarzana, sensing he was about to fall, quickly cannoned into him and threw him safely onto the branch. Backing against the trunk, Jack stared at the strange, but undeniably pretty, young woman. “Ok, so maybe I wasn’t seeing things.” 

Tarzana moved himself alarmingly close to him and touched his face. Jack, having been brought up as a proper English gentleman, knew that this kind of behaviour between men and women was usually considered inappropriate and he caught her hands and cleared his throat. “Well, yes, I think I have to thank you for your help with the baboons...”

Tarzana looked up into his face and then frowned at his hand on hers. “What?” Jack couldn’t help asking, not unkindly. 

Tarzana stretched open his hand and then laid hers against it, palm to palm. They were perfectly mirrored, apart from the fact that Jack’s hand was slightly larger than hers and not as worked by the forest. Tarzana looked at him again and this time Jack met her gaze. Her eyes stared like they were trying to see into his soul, but not in a creepy way, more in the way a lover looks at another and says “I’ve finally found you.” Her eyes were a soft blue-green colour and suddenly Jack didn’t feel afraid anymore. 

Then, to his surprise, Tarzana crept towards him. “Hey, what-?” Jack began but as Tarzana rested her head against his chest, he ceased talking. Tarzana heard his heartbeat, just as she had her father’s that day by the water. Then, to his shock, she grabbed his head and pulled it against her own chest. Flushing and flustered, but also realising what she was doing, Jack quickly pushed her away, gently though. “Ah, well, that’s a very nice...good...sounding heartbeat. Very healthy.”

Tarzana frowned and then copied him. “Very...heal-thy.”

“Yes,” Jack agreed, still trying to get over the fact he was in a tree with some strange wild woman, “with the things you can do, you must have remarkable health and stamina...” He broke off and stared at her. “Wait! Did you just speak?” Tarzana blinked at him. Jack sat up a little straighter. “You did! You just spoke! I thought you couldn’t speak at all, or at least, no human language! Can you also understand what I’m say-?” 

He was cut off as Tarzana laid her finger to his lips. Then, pointing to herself, she said in a clear voice “Tarzana.” Jack frowned, slightly. She tried again, more clearly. “Tar-za-na.”

“Tarzana,” Jack repeated. 

“Mm-hm!” Tarzana nodded, thrusting her face close to his.

Jack understood. “Oh, that’s your name!”

“Oh, that’s your name!” Tarzana imitated. She pointed to herself. “Tarzana.” Then, she put her hands on his shoulders. “Oh, that’s your name!”

“Oh, no, no, no.” Jack removed her hands. “You misunderstood.” Clearing his throat, he introduced himself a little more formally.”The name’s Jack.”

“The name’s Jack,” Tarzana imitated, mimicking his gestures.

“No, no, no.” Jack tried again, laying a hand on her shoulder. He pointed to himself. “Jack.” He pointed to her. “Tarzana.” Then to himself again. “Jack.”

Tarzana looked at him and understood, even if she still didn’t understand this strange feeling in her heart as she looked at him. “Jack,” she repeated, softly, liking the sound of it as she touched his face gently. 

“Yes, exactly...” Jack said, feeling the colour rush to his cheeks as his own heart began to race with similar feelings.


	3. Strangers Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

“Tarzana!” Tope looked around. He hadn’t seen her for ages, which was worrying. Alongside Thema, Flint, Mungo and a couple of others, he had decided to try and find her. “Tarzana!”

“Maybe Tarzana doesn’t want to be found,” said Mungo.

“Yeah, maybe she found something more interesting,” Flint added.

“Pft!” Tope snorted as they finally emerged from a cluster of leaves. “What’s more interesting than us?”

The gorillas froze as they saw what they had stumbled upon. To any human, it was merely a campsite, but to the gorillas it was a haven of strange and unusual things. 

“Hey, what’s everybody looking at?” Thema asked. Then, taking all the sights of the camp, she gasped. “It’s gruesome! Hide me before I throw up!”

Tope rolled his eyes. “Ya know, you really embarrass me sometimes, Thema. These things aren’t alive.”

The other gorillas laughed. Thema pulled herself together. “Well, of course I knew that,” she said, primly. 

“Tarzana!” called Tope, leading the way into the camp. “Tarzana!” He frowned at the Professor’s beakers and Bunsen burner. “What kind of primitive beasts are responsible for this mess?” Passing a typewriter, he tapped one of the keys. The page shifted and Tope jumped. Then, realising, he did it again. “Wow! Hey, come here, you guys! Check this out!” 

“What is that thing?” murmured one of the apes as Tope happily tapped at the keys, until, with a soft ping that made them all go “Ooh!” the page shifted back to the start. Tope did it again. Then another ape broke a plate with a satisfying smash. “Hey, do that again,” said Tope, making the typewriter ping again.

“Like this?” The gorilla smashed another plate whilst another gorilla ripped a page from a book with another satisfying musical sound. 

“Oh, yeah!” Tope picked up a box of silverware, leaving his friends to muck around with the typewriter, and shook it. “I feel something happening in here? What the heck is this?” he added as one of the gorillas showed him the horn for a gramophone. He tossed it to one side. It landed on Thema’s trunk and she gave a trumpet of alarm, which sounded very melodic through the horn. “Yeah!” Tope encouraged. “Do that again, Thema! Come on, work with me!”

Happily trashing the camp and making music at the same time, the gorillas and Thema quickly forgot all about Tarzana’s disappearance as they started to sing a song that goes a little like this:

“Shoo-be-do-do-be-da-do-be-da-do-be-da-da-do-da,  
Shoo-be-do-do-be-da-do-be-da-do-be-da-da-do-da,  
Shoo-be-do-do-be-da-do-be-da-do-be-da-da-do-da,  
Do-wop-she-do  
Do-wop-she-do!”

Of course, the song was heard by the family, not to mention Clarice and Professor Porter, who had only just noticed Jack’s absence. Jack himself, meanwhile, had only just arrived, along with Tarzana. Both had heard Clarice fire off a gunshot – which Tarzana had then mistakenly named as “Clarice” after Jack mentioned her name – and then, much to Jack’s terror, she had swung them both down to the camp by vine, completely ignoring Jack’s yelp of “Can’t we walk?!”

Now, steadying himself, and still amazed at what this woman could do, Jack stared in amazement at the creatures trashing their campsite. “Gorillas!” he exclaimed in excitement. 

Leaving him to gawp, Tarzana spotted Tope amongst all the others and ran forwards. Tope spotted her and they playfully wrestled. “She’s one of them,” Jack realised. 

Tarzana finally pushed Tope away from her and gestured towards Jack. Tope’s smile faded and he stared, not in fear but amazement, at the creature who looked something like Tarzana, and yet at the same time different. Jack in his turn stared at the gorilla. Tope walked slowly up to him and Jack, knowing that they could easily interpret any quick or sudden movements as a sign of aggression or attack, slowly reached out to touch Tope.

However, he didn’t get the chance to, as suddenly he sensed that something was behind him. Turning, he saw that a very stern Kayode was standing behind him. “Oh, my-” Jack began, having never seen a silverback before.

Suddenly Yejide appeared beside her mate, and snarled at Jack. Instinctively, Jack dived to the floor and seized a nearby ladle. 

“Enough!” Kayode sniffed to Yejide, who quietened at once. He gestured with his head for them to leave. The other gorillas and even Thema quickly fell into line, dropped what they were holding and quickly beat a hasty retreat. Jack, surprised that the gorillas hadn’t attacked him, watched them leave. Finally only Tarzana and her father were left. Kayode simply took his daughter’s arm and pulled her back into the jungle. Tarzana threw a look over her shoulder at Jack and he saw regret there, regret that she couldn’t stay longer and an apology for Yejide having frightened him. 

Jack sat up just as his mother and Clarice burst into the camp. “Oh, Jack, there you are!” exclaimed Professor Porter, helping him to his feet. “Are you hurt? We thought something awful had happened to you!” Then, she added, swatting him with her glove, “Don’t scare me like that, lad! You know I’m not as young as I used to be! What happened?”

Jack, who had been staring after Tarzana in a trance, roused himself. “Mother!” he gabbled at once. “You won’t believe what’s just happened to me! First off, there was this little monkey, well it was a baby baboon, and I saw sketching it. Suddenly, little monkey starts crying and there are hoards of them all around me-”

“Hoards of what?” exclaimed his mother, blinking.

“Monkeys! Baboons! Screaming and snarling and then suddenly I was swinging and flying-”

“Flying?” Clarice glanced at the Professor. “I think your son’s a little feverish, Professor, must be this humidity.”

“Well, that was what I thought,” Jack went on, babbling a little, “but then we were sliding and soaring...and I was saved by a flying wild woman...wearing barely anything.”

“Wearing barely anything?” Clarice glanced at the Professor. “What is he talking about?”

“Haven’t the foggiest idea,” the Professor replied, mystified. “Takes after his father, you know.”

“And then,” Jack said, spinning to face them, “she brought me back here and there were gorillas-!”

“Gorillas!” Clarice seized his shoulders. “You saw them?”

“Jack, that’s wonderful!” cried his mother, excitedly. Then, looking around their trashed camp and noting that they were no longer in sight, added “Where are they?” 

“Well?” Clarice asked, giving him a little shake. 

“She left with them,” Jack replied, dazed. 

“Who, dear?”

“Tarzana.”

“Tarzana?” repeated Clarice with a frown, wondering if the young man was quite in his right mind.

“The ape woman.”

The “ape woman” in question was currently deep in conversation with both Kayode and Yejide. 

“Those creatures are dangerous,” Yejide scolded her. “You shouldn’t have gone near them.”

Whilst Tarzana accepted Yejide’s sudden concern for her safety, she couldn’t help arguing. “I don’t think they’re all dangerous. One of them’s just silly and I spent time with another one of them.”

“We don’t know that they mean no harm,” Yejide insisted. 

“Yejide-” began Kayode but she cut across him. “No, Kayode, you know as well as I that they could just as easily hurt the family.”

Stubbornly, Tarzana folded her arms. “Yejide, why are you so scared of anyone different?”

“Tarzana, enough!” Kayode said, making his decision. He addressed the rest of the family. “We will avoid the strangers, everyone. Don’t seek them out and don’t let them seek you out. Protect yourselves and one another by staying away from them.”

Tarzana bit her lip as the group broke up. Yejide brushed her in passing. “Sometimes you’d do well to listen to your father, Tarzana,” she said, though not unkindly, and then she left them alone. 

Tarzana turned to Kayode. “Why didn’t you tell me there were creatures that looked like me?”

Kayode sat down and Tarzana followed suit. “I didn’t think I’d ever have to. I mean, I had heard stories of these creatures, these humans, coming to the jungle before my time, but I didn’t think any would show up now.”

“So...that is what I am?” Tarzana asked. “A human?”

Kayode smiled. “Only in body. In your mind, you’re an ape, and you can probably do things those other humans can’t.” He sighed. “I know I was wrong to keep it from you and I know to that you long to see them again. I won’t stop you. But, Tarzana, be careful. Sometimes humans, like apes, can keep their true natures well hidden.”

Tarzana rose early the next morning and found her way easily back to the campsite. There, Jack and his mother were engaged in a conversation about the mysterious “ape woman.” Professor Porter was keen to learn all she could about this new discovery of her son’s. Jack was drawing up a picture of the woman on the blackboard. “And her eyes,” he went on, “were intense and focused and...I’ve never seen such eyes before...”

He trailed off. Professor Porter knew that look and she chuckled. “Well, I’ll leave you and the blackboard alone for a minute, shall I?”

“Mother!” laughed Jack. “I’m just fascinated by her because, well, think of what we could learn from her!”

“Oh, well, we simply have to find her, then!” Professor Porter replied, pulling out her magnifying glass. “Now, if we could find those gorilla nests we came across yesterday, that would be a start-”

“Professor, I must protest,” said Clarice, now coming up to them. “You came to Africa to find wild animals, not indulge in some wild fantasy.”

“Fantasy?” Jack folded his arms. “I’m not making this up! Tarzana is-!”

That was when Tarzana dropped down from her tree and landed between them, on all fours, just as Jack had described her. “Real!” he finished with a satisfied expression. 

“It’s her!” exclaimed the Professor, excitedly. “It’s Tarzana!”

“Stand back,” Clarice ordered, alarmed by this strange woman and aiming her gun at her.

“NO!” Jack yelped, pushing the barrel away in time. The shot fired into the air.

“Clarice,” said Tarzana, promptly. 

“Eh?” asked the Professor.

“Clarice,” repeated Tarzana, proud that she had remembered the word.

Professor Porter burst out laughing. Jack managed to hide a smile as Clarice stared at the newcomer. “Have we met? How does she know my name?”

“She thinks it means the sound of a gunshot,” said Jack.

Tarzana quickly hopped up to him and touched his face like she had before. “Jack.”

“Yes, hello again...Tarzana,” Jack replied, trying to remain calm as she touched his face most unnaturally.

His mother laughed again. “I see what you mean by having no respect for personal boundaries. Just look at her,” she added as Tarzana looked all over Jack and then tried to do the same to Clarice. Clarice flinched, jerking her gun back out of the way. The sharp movement startled Tarzana and, to Jack’s surprise, leapt onto his back, clinging with arms and legs exactly the way a pet monkey might. “Fascinating!” exclaimed Professor Porter. “She looks like a woman but moves like an ape. She could be the missing link!”

“Or,” Clarice replied, thoughtfully, “OUR link to the gorillas.” Clearing her throat, she stepped up to Jack and addressed Tarzana in a ladylike tone. “Where are the gorillas?”

Tarzana blinked at her and then smiled. Clarice lost patience completely.

“GO-RI-LLAS!” she shouted, like someone talking to a foreigner or a mad person.

“GO-RI-LLAS!” Tarzana copied, equally as loudly.

“Shouting won’t work, Miss Clarice,” said Jack, quickly. “She doesn’t understand English. She only knows a few words by copying us.”

“Then I’ll make her understand,” replied Clarice, rubbing out Jack’s sketch of Tarzana on the blackboard and quickly drawing a crude ape caricature with the chalk. “If I can teach a parrot to sing “God Save the Queen,” I can certainly teach this savage a thing or two.” She tapped the picture with the chalk. “See, gorilla.”

Tarzana took the chalk from her and examined it. “Gorilla.”

“Oh, I think she’s got it,” smiled the Professor. “Or, perhaps not,” she added as Tarzana used the chalk to draw a crooked line all around the picture. 

“No, give me that!” Clarice snapped, snatching back the chalk. Jack quickly took it from her. “Thank you, Miss Clarice, but I think we can take it from here.”

“Oh, yes, indeed!” Professor Porter clapped her hands together, enthusiastically. “Let’s get out the slide projector! Now, where did I put that lamp?”

Tarzana cocked her head on one side, not understanding what was going on. Clarice shook her head. “Well, if you want to waste time teaching this savage to be civilised-”

Jack bristled. “I say, that’s a bit harsh.”

“What?”

“Well, she might live with apes, but that doesn’t make her a savage. After all, gorillas are sociable creatures.”

“So your mother’s theory goes,” Clarice reminded him, drily, as she moved past him to go into the tent. 

Tarzana still didn’t know what was going on, so she occupied herself with looking at the picture of the gorilla Clarice had drawn. It didn’t do any of the apes in her family justice at all. 

“Come on,” Jack said, holding a hand out to her. Tarzana looked at his hand and then pressed her own to it, like she had before. Jack smiled. She was like a child, and he knew that patience was the key to unlocking her inner woman. He took her hand, gently. “Come with me,” he said, jerking his head in the direction of the tent where his mother was setting up the projector. 

Tarzana understood; it was the same gesture her father made when he wanted them to go somewhere new. So, she allowed Jack to pull her along into the tent.


	4. Come With Me Now To See My World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

“Right,” breezed Professor Porter, inside the tent, as she fussed around with the slide projector. “Now, where did I put that box of slides?”

“I believe they’re on top of all those boxes there, Professor,” replied Lady Clarice, drily. 

Jack grinned. “I’ll get them, Mother.” 

He reached up for the box, but the slides were just out of his reach. He tried standing up on tiptoes, but he still couldn’t reach. Then...

“Oh, my word!” exclaimed Professor Porter in amazement. 

Even Clarice looked somewhat impressed. 

Jack looked down at Tarzana, who had picked him up around the waist as if he weighed nothing at all. “Um, thank you,” he stammered, reaching for the box. 

“That is remarkable!” exclaimed Professor Porter as Tarzana dropped Jack back on his feet. “Living in the jungle must have given her incredible strength!”

Jack helped her with the slides and Tarzana, crouched now on all fours, watched in alarm as a bright light flashed onto the screen, and then images splayed over it. The first was of a gorilla, one that looked a lot more like the ones she lived with than Clarice’s crude drawing and Tarzana slowly edged closer to the image. Then, with the natural curiosity of a child, or indeed an animal, she realised how the image was projected. The next image showed a young woman in a smart dress, standing upright as she leaned on a parasol. Tarzana, straightening up, imitated her pose. Jack shoved in slide after slide. One showed a familiar jungle setting, but the next was of a busy London street, which made Tarzana jump as it looked so unfamiliar, and then the next was a Gothic castle, like something from a fairytale. Then, the one following that was of a young man and woman dancing. Tarzana frowned and then, cottoning on to what they must be doing, caught hold of Jack’s arm and attempted to copy them. Jack laughed as they sort of hopped wildly about, with his mother clapping merrily, and Clarice looking largely unimpressed. Then, the slide changed to one of the planets in orbit and Tarzana stopped dancing to stare at them in awe. 

Inspired, Professor Porter brought out her telescope that night and explained all about the planets and the stars to Tarzana, whilst showing her how it worked. It all fascinated Tarzana, and the more time she spent with these people, the more she became convinced that they were just as good and harmless as her gorilla family. 

Over the course of the next few days, Jack taught her about books, showing her the pictures and slowly she began to pick up the knack of speaking English and reading it a little, simply by copying him. The Professor showed her many of her gadgets and gizmos she had brought with her from England, and patiently taught her about how they worked and what they were used for. Tarzana learned that she was a scientist, her speciality was biology, the study of the natural world, and that she loved studying animals and plants in their natural environment. She also learned that Jack loved drawing and was very good at it. 

Much to the chagrin of Clarice, who seemed solely focused on finding the gorillas, Tarzana found that her attention kept drifting to Jack. She had no real idea why, other than that she liked him, a lot, and that something about him made her feel the need to be beside him all the time. 

Kayode never stopped her from straying over to see the humans, although he kept it a secret from Yejide. He knew that she would never approve; and this could tear down the slight bond they had formed in light of Sabor’s death. He didn’t think he could handle the two women he loved dearly to go back to being at odds with one another again. So, he kept it a secret from everyone, except for Tope and Thema, who had seen her sneaking off once and so he had had to confide in them. Tarzana would return each night, rarely missed by the others since she had a habit of wandering off all the time, they knew, and tell him quietly what she had learned, and whilst Kayode was happy for her, knowing in his heart of hearts that it was the right thing for her to be with other humans, he worried about her, partly because he wasn’t entirely sure that these humans were completely trustworthy. 

He tried to impart this to her one evening after she returned from another English lesson with Jack and the Professor. 

“But they’re nice,” insisted Tarzana, sitting cross-legged in their nest. “Professor Porter just wants to know about animals, although she does try and act like them sometimes, but she says it’s because you can never really know about an animal unless you spend some time closely studying it. And Jack’s good too, I can tell, he has a good heart.”

“What you say may be true, and I’ll believe that they’re possibly trustworthy,” Kayode said, “but there is that other one-”

“Clarice.”

“She carries that weapon.” Kayode shuddered. “I have heard of animals being killed by that weapon.”

“Jack says it’s just for protection,” Tarzana replied. “I think she’s good too, underneath.”

Kayode shook his head. “You always were looking for the good in people, Tarzana. Very well, I’ll keep an open mind when it comes to your new friends.”

The next morning, Tarzana found her way to the camp and found Jack sitting amid a patch of grass, quietly sketching an African parrot. Tarzana made her way over to him. Seeing her, Jack grinned and showed her the half finished sketch. Startled, however, by their presence, the parrot took off. Jack sighed and leaned his chin on his fist, depressed. Seeing this, Tarzana had an idea. She took his hand and dragged him along to a nearby tree vine. 

“Oh, dear, not more swinging,” Jack groaned. Tarzana merely picked him up and he realised. “Oh, climbing. That I think I can handle.” 

However, he soon found it was harder than it looked and in the end, Tarzana had to support him as he went ahead of her. Higher and higher they climbed, until they reached the branch of a high tree. Tarzana led him into the midst of the green, where there were dozens of parrots. 

“This is just-!” Jack laughed as one land on his shoulder. “Incredible!”

One of the parrots, perched on a branch, looked at Tarzana. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Tarzana smiled and sat down. “Do you think you could wait right there and keep still, please? He just wants to draw a picture of you.”

“Oh!” Flattered, the bird ruffled her feathers. “Well, in that case, yes, I’d be delighted.”

Tarzana indicated to Jack that he could finish his sketch, and much to his surprise, he was able to. Then, even more surprisingly, she called them all to fly and then land on him, nuzzling up to him and one even pecking him gently in a parrot kiss on the nose. Jack was fascinated how she was able to talk to the animals, and found himself wondering if perhaps she could teach him and his mother to do that too. 

On the way down, she insisted on teaching him how to swing on vines properly. At first, Jack was nervous, to say the least, but Tarzana was gently encouraging and even though Jack clung to the vine with his eyes shut to begin with, he soon realised that, actually, swinging along on a vine was rather invigorating. He laughed and Tarzana, swinging on her own vine, slowed him down by twisting their vines together. As they both met in the middle of the twist of vines, Jack looked down at her curiously looking up at him and realised he was more than fascinated by this jungle girl...he liked her. Looking into her eyes, he noted, once again, that she was quite pretty. Tarzana cocked her head on one side, liking the way he was looking at her. Then, remembering his place, Jack smiled and looked away, much to her disappointment. “Yes,” he said, clearing his throat, “well, thank you, but, um, can we please get down now?”

“We’ve wasted all this time on what she wants,” Clarice snapped the following day. Part of her anger was directed at the fact that she knew Tarzana liked Jack, and that was out of sheer jealousy on her behalf, but the other half was genuinely due to the fact that they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of a gorilla yet. “The boat could arrive any day! For goodness sake, just ask her outright!”

Jack had to admit that she was right. Much as he enjoyed being a tutor to Tarzana, and learning from her, they had, after all, come to study the gorillas, as was his mother’s dream. He turned to Tarzana, who was busily examining the Professor’s model of the solar system, and cleared his throat. “Tarzana?” 

Tarzana looked up and smiled at him. “Yes, Jack?”

“Would you take us to the gorillas?” Jack asked, slowly. “Do...do you understand?”

Tarzana frowned. “I understand.”

“Oh, well done, Jack,” his mother smiled. 

“Well?” Clarice demanded. 

Tarzana shook her head. “I can’t.”

“What?” exclaimed Clarice. 

“Why not?” asked Jack, gently. 

“Yejide wouldn’t like it.” 

“Oh.” Professor Porter looked downtrodden. “But we came all this way and it’s always been my life’s dream to study gorillas up close-”

Tarzana looked at her feet. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

The Professor and Jack let the matter drop then, although Clarice tried to persist. However she came close to tearing out her hair when, during her last attempt to persuade Tarzana to change her mind, the girl became distracted with the slide projector again. “I give up!” sighed Clarice, tearing up the drawing she had done of a savage gorilla. “It’s bad enough the girl’s after my Jack! The sooner we get away from her, the better!”

Clarice got her wish the next day, however. The boat arrived to take them back to England and, despite the Professor’s protests that they needed to stay a few days longer because they hadn’t seen any gorillas, the Captain and his men insisted on loading their baggage aboard the boat anyway. Tarzana arrived amidst the action and quickly sought out Jack, who was wrestling his sketching supplies out of another sailor’s arms. 

“But we’ll have come all this way for nothing!” he exclaimed to the Captain.

“Not my problem, Mr Porter,” the Captain replied.

Jack turned and almost bumped into Tarzana. “Oh! Tarzana! Hello!”

Tarzana looked around. “What’s happening?”

“Well, the boat’s come to take us back to England,” Jack explained. “And, well, Mother and I were wondering, or, well, I was wondering,” he flushed and took a deep breath, “we were hoping you’d come with us. Will you?”

Tarzana thought about it. “When would we come back?”

“Back?” Jack looked flustered. “Well, I don’t...you see, it would be very difficult to come back...”

“Never come back?”

“Well, no, but you see, you’re a woman, Tarzana. You belong with us, with people.” Fumbling with the catch on his art box, Jack accidently opened it and several pencils and brushes fell to the floor. “Oh, no,” he muttered, diving to the floor for them. 

Tarzana fell to her knees beside him. “Jack must stay. Here. With Tarzana.” Jack met her eyes and felt torn. “Please?”

Jack shook his head and got to his feet. “Tarzana. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

He quickly hurried off. Clarice, who had been watching the scene, smirked. At least now the jungle girl would keep her hands off her man...although...a thought quickly formed in her mind. She could use Tarzana’s feelings for Jack to her advantage. 

“Oh, dear, Tarzana,” she sighed, stepping up to the girl. “I’m so sorry.”

“Jack is leaving.” Tarzana realised. “Forever.”

“Yes, yes, it is a shame, really. If only he could have spent some time with the gorillas, he might have stayed longer, perhaps forever, who knows? Ah, well.” Clarice smirked at her. “I suppose some things are just meant to be. Godspeed, Tarzana, we may meet again someday, or we may not.”

Tarzana grabbed her arm. “Wait!”

Clarice turned to her with an expectant smirk. “Yes?”

“If Jack sees gorillas, he stays?”

“I imagine so.” Clarice sighed as Tarzana frowned. “That means yes.”

Tarzana took a deep breath. She had a feeling she was going to regret this...but she so badly wanted Jack to stay. “I can take you to them.”

“Oh, Tarzana, that’s wonderful!” Clarice gushed, shaking her hand. 

Tarzana glanced over at Jack. “Just give me a moment. Meet me over there.” 

Before she took her friends to the gorillas, she had to make sure Yejide was out of the way, and for that she was going to need Tope and Thema’s help.


	5. Answers that You Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

“You want us to do what?” Tope exclaimed. 

“Please, Tope, it’d just be a for a little while,” Tarzana begged. 

“I don’t believe I’m hearing this!” Tope shook his head as he tossed away the banana peel. “You want us to distract Yejide just so that you can show those hairless apes you’ve been hanging around with our home turf?”

Thema twitched her trunk. “It wouldn’t involve anything dangerous, would it, Tarzana? I’m not good under pressure.”

“We all know that,” Tope snorted. 

“Tope, please. I trust you guys, you know that.”

“Look, why’s this so important to you, huh?” Tope challenged. “Huh?”

“It’s not important to me,” Tarzana explained, “but it would mean a lot to the Professor. And Jack. They travelled all this way to see gorillas in the wild. The Professor’s wanted to study us her whole life.”

“Oh, I see how it is?” exclaimed Tope, prodding her. “It’s that Jack! You’re doing it to impress him, aren’t ya?”

Tarzana blushed. “No.”

“Yes, you are! Your eyes lit up like fireflies when you said his name just now!”

“Aw! Isn’t that sweet?” Thema cooed. 

“Don’t go getting mushy on me,” Tope warned her. “And same for you, Tarzana.” 

“Oh, Tope, please!” Tarzana tried giving him the look. “It’d mean so much to me if you could just distract Yejide for a while! Please, Tope, please!”

“Oh, with the look and the eyes...!” Tope clapped a hand to his forehead. “Alright, already! But don’t make me do anything embarrassing, ok?”

A few moments later, however, Tope burst from the undergrowth dressed in one of Jack’s shirts they had swiped from the camp. “I am gonna kill her!” he snarled. 

“Actually, that colour is very becoming on you, Tope,” Thema replied, waggling the Professor Porter puppet, which they had mocked up earlier, upon her trunk. 

“Really?” Tope posed. “Bit revealing though, isn’t it?”

They both laughed and then Thema ducked down as they spotted Yejide a little way off. “Quick,” Tope muttered, “let’s lead her as far away from the rest of the family as possible.”

“I only hope Tarzana hurries up,” Thema added as they quickly whisked away. Yejide, distracted by the noise they were making, followed to investigate. 

Meanwhile, Tarzana led her friends up the hill until they reached the top. Kayode, on his own, was eating a mango when he spotted her. “Back already?” he asked, and then he dropped the mango at the sight of the other humans. 

“Oh, my!” exclaimed Professor Porter, fanning herself after the climb. “Look at him, Jack! Isn’t he magnificent?”

“He is,” Jack agreed. 

“He’s my father,” Tarzana explained, with pride. 

Jack glanced from her to Kayode. “This is your...father?”

Kayode stared at the humans, unsure of whether to retreat or not. Tarzana quickly dived down in front of him. “Papa? Papa, it’s ok.”

“Tarzana, why are they here?” Kayode hissed. 

“They wanted to see the family,” Tarzana said. “It’s alright. They don’t want to hurt us.”

Kayode shot a glance at the humans. “I take it,” he indicated in the direction of the Professor, “that that is the one who wants to observe us?”

“Yes, that’s the Professor, and that’s Jack, her son. He likes to draw animals.”

Kayode took a deep breath. “I trust your judgement,” he said. 

Tarzana beckoned her friends forward. The Professor knelt down in front of Kayode. “He is just amazing. So human-like; don’t you think he looks a bit like your great Uncle Ishmael sitting in his armchair, Jack?”

Jack laughed. “A little, though Uncle Ish had less hair!”

Kayode sniffed the Professor, who remained completely still, knowing that too quick a movement could startle him. Kayode then sat back and held his hand out, palm up. The Professor let out a gasp of amazement. “Just as I predicted!” She put her hand into the great gorilla palm. “Social creatures!”

Feeling they were being watched, Jack glanced upwards and let out a whisper of “Good Lord...” as the other gorillas stared down at them from the trees. 

“It’s alright,” Kayode instructed them. “You can come down. They mean no harm.”

“Oh, my goodness, this is so-!” The Professor laughed as another gorilla sniffed her leg. “I mean, I thought we’d be lucky to see just one gorilla but a whole family is just-oh, I say!” she added as another plucked a flea from her hair. “Was that one of mine? Remarkable! Look at this, Clarice! Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Um, yes, fascinating,” Clarice agreed, busily making a map of the journey from the port to the gorilla’s hideout. Then, she let out a yelp as one seized her gun. “No! Give me that! That is not for playing with!”

Jack laughed as a baby gorilla rolled against his legs. “Well, hello!” he smiled, getting down on his knees. Several other baby gorillas joined them and started playing with his hair and tugging at his clothes, kind of like Tarzana when they had first met. 

“Hey, guys!” Tarzana called to them. “Who wants to wrestle?”

“Yay!” The babies immedietly ran up and began to climb on her. Jack smiled as he watched them roll around together...and then he realised that he was more than fascinated by Tarzana. He had a deeper feeling for her. She stirred strange emotions in him whenever she was near him...or perhaps they weren’t strange after all. 

“Can you teach me?” he asked her as Tarzana chattered to the babies and they replied eagerly back. 

“Speak gorilla?” Tarzana asked.

“Yes,” Jack said, catching one of the babies as it fell onto his lap. “Please.”

Tarzana smiled. “Copy me. Ooh-ooh-eeh-eh-ooh.”

“Ooh-ooh-eeh-eh-ooh,” Jack tried, in a broken version of gorilla language, but it set the babies cheering and hugging him in celebration. “My word!” Jack laughed. “What did I say?”

Tarzana smiled and stroked the gorilla he was holding. “That Jack stays with Tarzana.”

“Stay?” Jack’s smile faded. “But...I thought we’d already...Tarzana, I can’t-”

He was cut off as suddenly Tope and Thema burst through the bushes, falling over and over until Thema landed on top of Tope. 

“Tope?” she exclaimed, getting up. “Tope? Where’d you-? Oh, there you are!”

Tope sat up, dazed. “That’s it – I quit doing favours for people!”

“Is that my shirt?” Jack frowned. 

Before Tarzana could answer, Yejide came bursting through the clearing. At once, everyone fell silent. 

“What’s going on?” The Professor asked.

Yejide turned to the humans with a snarl. Jack scrambled to his feet as she glared at him, but before she could approach any of them, Tarzana leapt in the way. “No! Yejide, wait!”

“What are they doing here?!” There was no mistaking that Yejide was angry; even the humans could hear it in her roar. 

Clarice had just managed to wrestle her gun back from the gorilla that had taken it and she turned it towards Yejide. “Back off, ape!”

“No!” The Professor pushed the butt of her gun down. “We have to show them we’re not dangerous!”

Yejide started forwards but Tarzana grabbed her and held her back. “Get off me!” Yejide hissed, trying to shake her off. 

“Go!” Tarzana shouted to Jack. “Now! Just go!”

“Come on!” Clarice seized Jack’s arm. “What are you waiting for?”

Jack shot a frightened look at Tarzana. She shook her head. Her eyes told him that she would be fine. With an apologetic shrug, Jack turned and ran after his mother and Clarice. 

Tarzana waited until they were out of sight before she allowed Yejide to throw her off. 

“How could you bring them here?” exclaimed Yejide. 

Kayode stepped forwards. “They were friendly, Yejide; they showed no hostility-”

“No hostility? They had a weapon!”

“She wouldn’t have used it!” Tarzana snapped, looking up from the floor. “If you had just given them a chance-!”

“A chance?” Yejide snarled. “Creatures like those? I warned you to stay away from them! But you brought them here! You’re a traitor to this family!”

The words hurt more than any physical blow. Tarzana scrabbled to her feet. “I would never do anything to betray the family!”

“You already have done!”

“Yejide!” exclaimed Kayode.

“No!” Yejide rounded on him. “You see what happens when you give creatures like that a chance? You see what happened when I finally did? Tarzana may live with us; she may live like us; but she is one of them! Her loyalty is divided!”

“I would always put the family first!” Tarzana cried. 

“Then you will stay away from them in future?” Yejide asked. 

Tarzana blinked, and then shook her head. “I can’t.”

Yejide scowled. “Then choose, Tarzana; this family or that one. It can only be one or the other.”

Feeling everyone else’s eyes on her, Tarzana turned and fled away into the trees. 

“Tarzana!” Kayode sighed and then turned to Yejide. “That was uncalled for.”

“Uncalled for? You know I’m right.” Yejide looked in the direction Tarzana had run in. “I had hoped that she might be one of us after all; but she will always be one of them. I can’t believe you allowed her to bring those creatures here.” 

Up in her favourite tree, Tarzana could see the port where the ship was waiting to take Jack away from her forever. She curled into herself, wishing that there was some way she could have both. She didn’t want to leave her family, but she didn’t want Jack to leave either. She knew that her feelings for him were strong, and she had hoped that he might reciprocate them.

“What do I do?” she asked, mournfully, as Kayode joined her. “I need advice. I need an answer.”

Kayode took a deep breath. “Come with me, Tarzana. There’s something you need to see; something I should have shown you a long time ago.”


	6. Put Your Faith In What You Most Believe In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

Tarzana stared around the tree house. Kayode felt a chill at facing the empty room once more. The bodies of Tarzana’s parents had long since gone, either they had been devoured by Sabor or moved by some other force of the jungle. At any rate, everything else was still as it had been when he had found his daughter. 

Her parents must have loved her very much, he reflected, to have given their lives to save her. 

Tarzana stepped forwards and stepped on something. It was a photograph; the same that Kayode had once stepped on when he had first arrived in the tree house. Now, after so many years, the glass was covered in a thick layer of dust. Tarzana brushed away the dust and looked at the photograph. The man, she reflected, looked a little like Jack, though his eyes and the colour of his hair was different. The woman looked something like her, and in her arms she held a tiny baby girl, who was smiling at the camera. 

Tarzana drew in her breath. “Is this...the little...is it me?”

Kayode nodded. 

“And this is my mother?”

“Yes.”

“And my...?”

“Father,” Kayode finished. “Yes. Sabor killed them. I should have told you before. They managed to save you by hiding you. I found you and rescued you when Sabor came back for you.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Now you know. Tarzana, I just want you to be happy, whatever you decide.”

He turned and went outside, leaving her to contemplate. Tarzana went around the room, exploring, touching things that must have once been hers, and belonged to her mother and her father. There were still the dried blood marks of claws and a scuffle across the floorboards. She shuddered and turned away, thinking hard. Her heart felt like it was torn in two. Home was here with her family and yet she couldn’t bear the thought of being away from Jack either. And was he right? Did she belong in a world with other people? And was Yejide right? Did she not belong there with the gorillas at all?

Her hands brushed a large open trunk beside her. Turning she looked down into the tangle of material inside. These clothes must have belonged to her mother, she thought, they looked very much like what she had worn in the photograph. Drawing out a dress that was dark teal in colour, she held it up against her, wondering what she must look like in that. Perhaps not as pretty as her mother had been, but more ladylike...like Thema had always said she should be. 

Blinking back tears, she made up her mind. 

Kayode looked up as she came back to him. She was dressed in the simple teal gown and a pair of shoes she had found which were a little big for her feet but she was able to keep them fastened on. Kayode managed a shaky smile. “You look...human.”

Tarzana bent in front of him. Their eyes met and then she hugged him, tightly. “No matter where I go, you will always be my Papa.”

Kayode felt tears in his own eyes as he hugged her back. “And you will always be in my heart.”

Eventually, they parted and Kayode followed her in the direction of the shore. At the edge, where forest met sand, he took her hand for the last time. “Goodbye, Tarzana.”

“Goodbye, Papa,” she whispered, squeezing his fingers back before stepping out to where Jack and the Professor were standing with Clarice, awaiting the boat to take them to the ship. 

Jack turned as she stepped from the jungle and beamed at her. “Tarzana!” He ran up to grasp her hands. “You changed your mind?” He looked her up and down. “You look beautiful!”

“Oh, yes!” the Professor added. “Quite ladylike! Why, I hardly recognised you!”

“The boat’s here,” Clarice said, stepping forwards to meet the sailor rowing it. “All aboard who’s coming aboard.”

Tarzana allowed Jack to help her, unsteadily, into the boat. It wobbled under their weight at the lapping of the waves; it was nothing like riding an elephant through the river. She gritted her teeth, wishing she could swim in this dress but then, she reminded herself, that probably wasn’t the done thing for humans. 

“Tarzana!” Thema came crashing onto the beach, followed by Tope, as the boat was almost at the ship. “Oh, we’re too late!”

“Well, if ya’d pulled over to ask directions!” snapped Tope. 

Thema’s lip trembled. “We didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“Yeah, well, good riddance!” Tope shouted, throwing a shell towards the sea with a feeble arm. “After all I’ve ever done for you, Tarzana, you bald runt, you’d better not come crawling back here begging for help anytime soon! Yeah, that’s right! Ingrate!” He kicked the sand and then glared at Thema. “What are you lookin’ at?”

Thema sniffed back tears. “I’m gonna miss her too.”

“Oh, this is going to be wonderful, Tarzana!” the Professor told her, patting her hand affectionately as they reached the ship. “People from all walks of life are going to want to meet you; Darwin, Kipling, all the greats – perhaps even Queen Victoria herself!”

Jack smiled. “Yes, we’ve never met her, but people tell us she’s awfully nice.”

Tarzana glanced at him. “And...I’d be with Jack?”

Flustered but pleased, Jack nodded. “Yes. Yes, exactly. Oops,” he added as he missed the ladder with his hand, not concentrating. “There it is.”

Tarzana shot one last lingering look back at the jungle, hit with a pang that she hadn’t managed to say goodbye to Thema and Tope first. Then, she scaled the ladder...and was met with a terrifying sight. 

The men aboard the ship didn’t look friendly in the least and it wasn’t just the fact that they had tied up the Captain and were holding a struggling Jack and Professor Porter prisoner. 

“Tarzana!” Jack struggled as they held him back. “Run!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Suddenly Clarice was there and with one sharp movement she knocked Tarzana down with the butt of her rifle. Tarzana hit the deck hard and then felt herself dragged to her feet by two of the men. She glared at Clarice. Her father had been right; she wasn’t to be trusted. “Why are you doing this?” she shouted. 

Clarice laughed. “Why? Because once your furry little friends are in these cages, it will make me extremely rich! And I have you to thank for leading me right to them!”

“You won’t get away with this!” Professor Porter cried. “Take your hands off me, you rogues, you cads!” she added as she was dragged away to the brig. 

Clarice’s only answer was a laugh. “You wretched woman!” Jack exclaimed.

“Yes, it is a pity, Jack,” Clarice replied, sliding up to him and stroking his face. “I quite liked you. We could have been good together. But I can’t have any of you getting in my way. Take them below.”

This last was to the men who dragged Tarzana towards the brig. In a last, desperate attempt for freedom, Tarzana tried a trick that Tope had taught her; to roar like a leopard. 

On the shore, Thema heard the sound. “Tope!” She grabbed his shoulder with her trunk. “That was Tarzana! I think she’s in trouble!”

“Who cares?” Tope snorted. “She’s got her new friends now!”

Thema narrowed her eyes and then seized him, spinning him around to face her. “That’s it, Temitope! I have had just about enough of you and your...emotional constipation! We’re her friends and she needs us, so just shut up and hang on!”

“Wha-?” Tope found himself thrust onto her back as Thema lunged towards the sea. “Thema, wait, you’re not gonna-?”

He was cut off abruptly as they hit the water with a loud splash.

“I never felt so alive!” Thema exclaimed as they surfaced.

“Good!” shouted Tope. “Coz I’m gonna kill ya!”

“No time for that; we’ve a boat to catch!”

“Tarzana!” Jack caught hold of her as she was literally bouncing off the walls to try and break free. Tarzana turned to him, her eyes wild, and Jack felt the need to give her a little shake. “Don’t. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Tarzana was shaking with rage. “Clarice...”

“Yes.” Jack hugged her, although she stood limp for a while. “She betrayed us. She’s a traitor.”

“No. I am.” Tarzana suddenly clung to him. “I betrayed my family.”

“Oh, I hate to think of those poor gorillas shivering in cages!” Professor Porter shook her head. “No! I won’t stand for it! I won’t!”

“You’re good.” Tarzana looked at them. “Both of you. But there are people like Clarice and Sabor. Who are bad. Why?”

Jack smiled, sadly. “I’m afraid the world is just like that, Tarzana.”

“There must be something we can do!” Professor Porter slapped the side of the wall and then they all yelped as the ship lurched to one side. Jack hit the wall and Tarzana crashed into him, just managing to keep the Professor from falling over a crate in the process. “By Jove!” Professor Porter exclaimed. “I don’t know my own strength!”

The ship righted itself and several loud crashed caused them all to glance to the top deck in alarm. “What is going on?” Jack exclaimed.

A second later, he got his answer as the grate of the brig was ripped away and a loud trumpet issued from the deck. 

“I say, that sounded like an elephant!” the Professor cried. 

“Thema!” Tarzana cried. 

Thema trumpeted in delight and pulled her out with her trunk. At once, Tope leapt on her for a hug. “Oh, Tarzana, you had me worried sick! I thought we’d never see you again!”

Thema grabbed them both for a hug. “Ya know, you really embarrass me sometimes, Tope.”

The pair of them had, between them, managed to knock out the soldiers that had stayed on the ship, but Clarice was already back on the shore with several others, and their cages. Tarzana ran to the side of the ship. They had to hurry and she couldn’t very well hurry in a dress. 

“Oh, Tarzana, don’t take it off!” Thema sighed, shaking her head. “It really is quite becoming on you!”

“Not the issue here,” Tope reminded her, yanking the Professor out of the brig. Thema did the same to Jack. 

Tarzana turned to them. “Thema, Tope, help them to the shore. I’m going on ahead to stop Clarice.”

Devoid of her dress, in her scanty jungle garments, she turned and dived off the side of the ship and into the water. 

Thema turned to Jack and his mother and beckoned them with her trunk. Tope made a gesture for them to let Thema pick them up. 

“My!” exclaimed Professor Porter as she was helped up. “First meeting a gorilla family, then riding an elephant; whatever next?”

“Saving the gorillas from the evil Lady Clarice, that’s what, Mother,” Jack reminded her. 

“Quite right,” she agreed. 

“Next stop, home turf!” Tope cried, leaping up behind them. 

Tarzana swam with all her strength until she reached the shore and then she was running, swinging and leaping again, bound for home. She arrived on the scene to find Clarice confronting Yejide, who was trapped in a net. Several other gorillas were likewise trapped, whilst the rest were imprisoned in the cages. 

Clarice laughed and aimed her gun at Yejide. “I think this one would be better off stuffed!” 

With another roar, Tarzana leapt out and knocked the gun from her hands. “Get away from my family!”

“Charge!” the Professor added as, behind Tarzana, came not only Thema but other elephants she had rallied along their way, alongside baboons too. 

The soldiers all leapt aside to avoid being crushed. Clarice let out a curse as she tried to find her gun amid the confusion. Tarzana snatched up a flint from the ground and sawed through the net, freeing Yejide. 

“You came back?” Yejide exclaimed. 

“I came home,” Tarzana replied. 

They smiled at each other. Then, as several men came at them, they began to fight, working together to protect one another. Tope scared several men into a cage by pretending to be rabid with mashed banana. Then, as another advanced on him with a pike, Thema snatched him with her trunk and threw him into another cage at the Professor’s cry of “Fire!”

Tarzana and Yejide worked quickly to free the others from the nets. 

“Take what you can back to the boat!” Clarice snapped to her men, and they quickly picked up the cage containing Kayode. Seeing this, Jack grabbed a nearby vine and swung at the men, knocking the first off his feet, and causing them both to drop the cage. The other man turned on him, but then the baboons charged towards him and he ran at once. Jack laughed as the baby baboon he had met before landed on his shoulder and snuggled up to him. Then, he noticed that Kayode was panicking in the cage and ran towards him. 

“It’s alright,” he said, trying to figure out how to unlock the cage. “I’ll get you out of here. Trust me.” His eyes met Kayode’s and both of them shared a look of mutual understanding. Then, as a man came up behind Jack with a crowbar, Tarzana leapt on him from the trees and caught the crowbar in mid leap. 

Jack grinned at her. “That should do the trick!”

They worked together to get the cage opened and Kayode hugged his daughter. “Tarzana! You came back!”

Before she could respond, a gunshot rang out and Tarzana yelled in pain as the bullet grazed her flesh. 

“No!” Jack shouted. 

His yell was heard by Yejide, who turned to see Clarice advancing on them with her gun. Anger filled her at once, and she charged the woman. Clarice turned in terror and pulled the trigger. 

CRACK!

Yejide fell, badly wounded. Tarzana fell beside her and then, sensing the wound was fatal, let out her own cry of “No!” as she charged at Clarice. Clarice fired at her and Tarzana just managed to get out of the way in time. She made for the trees, but Clarice, determined as ever, scrambled up after her. Tarzana found herself climbing with one arm due to the pain in the other. 

“You can’t escape, Ape Girl!” snarled Clarice. “I will have your little ape family!”

Tarzana leap at her, knocking the gun from her hands. The two fought, landing blows on each other wherever they could. Eventually, Clarice knocked Tarzana aside and drew out her hunting knife. “Come on then, savage woman! Let’s end this!”

Tarzana leapt into the cluster of vines for safety, but Clarice followed her, not realising the vines were getting tangled around her body in the process. She sliced vines left and right and suddenly Tarzana realised the danger the woman was putting herself in. A vine was wrapped around her neck and she was slicing them all to get free. 

“Clarice, don’t!” Tarzana shouted, seeing what was about to happen, but it was too late. Clarice screamed as she fell from cutting the last vine holding her, and as Tarzana leapt to the ground she watched the vine suddenly tighten and that was it. Clarice was dead. Never again would she threaten anyone in the jungle. Yet, Tarzana hadn’t meant for her to die. She hadn’t meant for anyone to get hurt like that.

With a racing heart, she hurried back to the spot where Yejide had been hurt. Kayode was cradling her and the other gorillas had gathered. Professor Porter was on her knees, trying to staunch the flow of blood with a leaf, but she shook her head as Tarzana approached. 

“Tarzana,” she said, her voice shaky. “I’m so sorry. The wound...there’s too much blood loss. I’m so sorry.”

Tarzana fell to her knees and the Professor moved to her son’s side. “Yejide, I’m so sorry, please forgive me,” Tarzana whispered, taking her hand. 

“No,” Yejide breathed, her voice raspy as she squeezed Tarzana’s hand back. “Forgive me for not understanding that you have always been one of us; a part of this family. I was so blinded my own prejudices. But you...you are one of us...and I am proud to call you my daughter.”

Tarzana watched her eyelids drop shut and Kayode hung his head in mourning. “No,” Tarzana murmured, and then laying her head on Yejide’s body she began to sob uncontrollably. All the gorillas began to weep silently. Thema wiped her eyes with her trunk as the other elephants raised theirs in silent salute. The baboons hung their heads. Professor Porter buried her face in her hands and cried. Jack fell on his knees beside Tarzana and then pressed close to her for comfort. 

It was a victory, but a sad one that they all felt.


	7. These Lives We See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl is raised by apes in the jungle after her parents are killed by a leopard. Years later, strangers who look like her enter the jungle and what follows is legend...

The next day it was bright and warm, as ever, although Tarzana felt like the sky ought to be black in mourning for Yejide. They had given her a proper burial, beside the tree house, at Professor Porter’s suggestion. Everyone had mourned the passing of a dear friend and none more than Kayode, although Tarzana felt the loss almost as greatly as he did. 

And now something else sad was happening. Jack, and his mother, were leaving. Tarzana had explained to them that, as much as she wanted to join them, she just couldn’t. 

“I abandoned them before and look what happened,” she said. “I can’t do it again.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” Professor Porter had replied, comfortingly. 

Jack had nodded, though it ached to be away from her for even a second these days.

Now, as the boat was rowed onto the shore and their bags loaded aboard it, Tarzana and Jack stood facing one another on the sand. 

“London’s going to seem so small after all of this,” Jack told her. 

Tarzana looked into his eyes. “I’ll miss you, Jack.”

“Mr Porter!” called the Captain.

“Yes, I know, I’m coming!” Jack called before turning back to Tarzana with a heavy heart. “Well...I suppose we should say goodbye then.”

He held out his hand to her. Tarzana took it and then pressed her palm to his the way she had when they had first met. “Goodbye, Jack,” she said, her voice trembling. 

Jack took a deep breath...and sighed. “Goodbye, Tarzana.”

Dropping his hand from hers, he turned and walked towards the boat. Tarzana walked into the water, letting the waves lap her ankles as she watched them sail away. 

“Goodbye, Tarzana!” Professor Porter called. “Thank you for everything! And tell your family goodbye from us too!” Tarzana returned her wave. The Professor sighed and sat down opposite her son. “I’m going to miss that girl.”

Jack nodded and pulled a sheet of sketching paper from his pocket. It was a sketch he had done a while back, of the two of them, he and Tarzana, sitting amidst the grasses of Africa. He smiled, sadly. Then, his mother took his hand and he looked up at her. 

“Jack, darling, I can’t help feeling that you should stay.”

Jack stared at her. “No, Mother, I can’t. We’ve been through all this. I belong there in London with you and with people and-”

He broke off as a sudden gust of wind snatched the sketch from his hands and whipped it back to the shore. Tarzana caught it and looked at it. She looked up at Jack who met her gaze. 

“But you love her,” Professor Porter prompted. 

Jack let her words sink in and then realised what it was that he wanted...to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved. He looked at the Professor. She nodded with a smile. “Go on, son. It’s alright.”

With a smile, Jack hugged her and then, seizing his art box, he leapt from the boat and began to plough through the waves as fast as he could manage back to Tarzana. She watched him, with a leaping heart, and then leapt up as he reached her and hugged him tightly, clinging with arms and legs. Jack laughed as he was almost knocked off his feet and then, picking her up, he swung her around, causing her to laugh too. Then, without stopping to think about whether or not it was the done thing, Jack kissed her, fiercely, much to her surprise. Tarzana stared at him, unsure of how to respond and Jack realised what he was doing and stopped, setting her back on her feet. 

“Um...yes,” he flushed, taking the sketch from her hands, “thanks for saving this...”

Tarzana looked up at him and then, wrapping her arms around him, kissed him again. Jack smiled at her. Then-

“Tarzana! Jack!”

Both looked around as Professor Porter splashed towards them, loaded with her bags. “Mother?” Jack exclaimed. 

“I don’t know what I was thinking!” Professor Porter exclaimed. “Why study animals and plants from afar in England when I can study them up close and personal in Africa! No, the Captain shall say he never found us! After all, people get lost in the jungle every day!”

Jack laughed as Tarzana pulled him close for another kiss and then, with an embarrassed smile, nodded over her shoulder. Tarzana turned to see most of her family, and Thema, gathered on the beach behind them. Both Thema and Tope looked largely unamused. 

“That is,” the Professor added, making a bow of respect to Kayode, “if it’s alright with your family, of course.”

Kayode glanced at his daughter. 

“May they stay?” she asked him. 

Kayode smiled and nodded. Then he reached out his hand to the Professor and led her into the midst of the gorillas. Jack stepped up and cleared his throat. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. Ooh-ooh-eeh-eh-ooh.”

The gorillas cheered at once. 

“Oh, you must teach us to speak gorilla fluently!” the Professor exclaimed. “And elephant too! There’s so much I can learn from the animals if I can talk to them!”

Tarzana smiled and then, leaping onto Thema’s back, she pulled Jack up too. Of course she would teach them to speak with the animals like she could; and she would teach them everything she had learned about the jungle; all the swinging from vines and climbing trees and survival instincts she had picked up over the last eighteen years of her life. She could imagine that the Professor swinging through the trees in furry undergarments could be quite the comical sight. And she would study the animals to her heart’s content, and Jack would sketch them and they would be together, living and breathing the jungle, together, with Tope and Thema and Kayode and the Professor and everyone else. 

In happiness, leaping from tree to tree with Jack, she let out a satisfied jungle roar that was heard by all of the animals. It was a signal that they were all where they belonged now; two worlds, one family, together in the jungle.


End file.
